SSLS 2016-12-23

2016 4th Quarter

Lesson 13, December 17-23, The Character of Job

Friday, December 23

“… while the good works even of the best men can not save them, none can be saved without bearing the fruit of good works. The sanctifying power of Christ [through the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit] upon the heart will produce precious fruit, and His Spirit and power will make our works acceptable to God. If by His Holy Spirit Christ abides in the soul, our features, our attitude, our words will reveal Him to the world.” (Ellen White, Signs of the Times, January 6, 1898.)

“None are so vile, none have fallen so low, as to be beyond the working of this power. In all who will submit themselves to the Holy Spirit a new principle of life is to be implanted; the lost image of God is to be restored in humanity.

“But man cannot transform himself by the exercise of his will. He possesses no power by which this change can be effected. The leaven—something wholly from without—must be put into the meal before the desired change can be wrought in it. So the grace of God must be received by the sinner before he can be fitted for the kingdom of glory. All the culture and education which the world can give will fail of making a degraded child of sin a child of heaven. The renewing energy must come from God. The change can be made only by the Holy Spirit. All who would be saved, high or low, rich or poor, must submit to the working of this power.” (Ellen White, Christ’s Object Lessons, 96, 97.)

“We may expect great things of God. It is not as though we were making the sacrifice for men, and Jesus was reluctant to save. The cross of Calvary expresses His estimate of the worth of the soul, and His love for the fallen race. He is bending over the purchase of His blood, asking with inexpressible tenderness, pity, and love, ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ He invites, ‘Come unto me, and be saved. I have borne thy iniquities; by the stripes laid on Me, thou mayest be healed.’ He is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him than parents are to give good gifts to their children. But we must empty our hearts of iniquity. He will never reveal Himself to us as a sin-pardoning Saviour until we feel that without Him we are hopelessly lost, that to live in sin is misery, despair, and death.” (Ellen White, Review and Herald, May 27, 1884.)